Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: The Future of Darkness
by Wongaish
Summary: The story behind the story of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2
1. Chapter 1

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Future 

Of Darkness

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way. The game designers are the geniuses here.**

**Those of you who have played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, you will know that the ending is one of the saddest in Nintendo history. You discover (in game) that you were a human from the future and were assisting Grovyle in learning the locations of Time Gears so you can save everyone. This story is about that time; a time when time was nothing and darkness was all…**

**Chapter 1: Friends in Darkness **

"No chance, you're not getting by me!" the Grovyle said,

"Watch me," said the Infernape challenging him, "This is gonna be my turf."

The Grovyle smiled, "Then take it from me."

The Infernape powered up a Fire Punch, "With pleasure."

The Infernape dashed forewords and slammed his flaming fist into the Grovyle's stomach. The Grovyle coughed out some blood. The move had been super-effective and the Infernape was no pushover. The Grovyle had been expecting a simple fight; he'd knock out this Pokémon and keep his territory. This wasn't how he'd imagined it.

The Infernape smacked him to floor with another Fire Punch, "My turf now."

The Infernape was about to finish him off, when something collided with his side, winding him and knocking off to one side, "You sure you want to do this, then you'll have to go through me"

The Infernape growled and stood up, "Who do you think you are?"

His eyes widened when he saw what had hit him, "A human?!"

It was, a human with blonde hair and blue eyes and a pretty sly smile.

"Yeah, a human," he said, "Does that make a difference for when I beat you up?"

The Infernape smiled, "Oh sure, what are you gonna do? You can't use moves."

The human smiled, "Who needs 'em," suddenly he was in front of the Infernape and raining punches and kicks on him. One last kick sent the poor Pokémon sprawling in the dirt, "Now scram!" the human said, putting a blast seed into his mouth and blasting the Infernape with a burst of fire.

Despite being a fire-type Pokémon, the fire burned him. It was too much. Like many of the Pokémon in this twisted world, they were strong on the outside, but highly timid on the inside. The fire made him run.

The human had no expression on his face as he turned back to the injured Grovyle, "Can you stand?"

The Grovyle looked up, "Barely."

The human put his hand out and the Grovyle took it. The human pulled him up, but then the Grovyle almost instantly fell to his knees. The human supported him, "Don't worry, I've got you."

He looked at the Grovyle's stomach and back, "Burns," he muttered. He reached into the little pouch he always carried with him and took out a heal seed, "Here, eat this."

The Grovyle took it and put it in his mouth. The burns disappeared instantly, "Thanks," he said. The human reached into the pouch again and took out an oran berry, "Eat this."

The Grovyle did and he felt energy surge through every part of his body as his health was instantly restored.

He stood up, a little wobbly, and moved his hands a little. He felt fine. He threw a few punches at the air. Still fine. Finally he powered up a leaf blade and took a swipe at the air. Still good.

"Thanks," he said, "but why help me?"

The human smiled, "Why not? Someone's in trouble and I had to help. Besides," he smile grew, "I've been watching you for some time and I got bored."

The Grovyle raised an eyebrow, "Right…" he said slowly, "Who are you?"

The human was still smiling, "Name's Sam."

"Grovyle," said Grovyle.

Sam's smile grew even wider, if that were possible, "Ah, Pokémon originality at it's finest."

Grovyle scowled, "Whatever. I'm still trying to get over the fact that you can understand me."

Sam stopped smiling, "I don't know. I've never even thought about it. I was born around talking Pokémon, so it's not weird."

Grovyle shrugged, "Fair enough," a thought suddenly occurred to him, "Wait, why were you watching me in the first place?"

"Because I'd heard things about you. Acts of bravery and," Sam chuckled a little, "Taking down some of the bad guys."

"Bad guys?" Grovyle asked,

"Yeah, you know, Dusknoir and his Sableye."

Grovyle looked at the floor, "Oh yeah, that."

Sam smiled, "I've got to thank you for that, those guys were really starting to bug me."

Grovyle looked up at him, "You know them then?"

Sam nodded, "Not that I want to. You see, they're after me because of what I'm doing."

"What _are _you doing?"

Sam looked away. He seemed distant now, "I want to alter this world, to save the Pokémon from this perpetual darkness."

"Why does a human want to help US?"

Sam shrugged, "I don't have anyone else to do it for. I'm the only human on this planet. I want to restore time."

Grovyle was giving him a very hard look, "And?"

Sam looked back at him, "So I can't do it alone. I need help."

"I doubt that, you can handle yourself pretty well in a fight."

For a moment, anger flashed in Sam's eyes, then it was gone, "And what if I get caught? You think I could handle myself fine then?"

Grovyle said nothing.

Sam was sounding slightly desperate now, "I can't do this alone! I don't just need help," Sam looked Grovyle straight in the eye, "I need a friend."

Grovyle stared back at him, but said nothing. Tears began to form in Sam's eyes, "Please! I'm the only human on this planet and no one will help me!"

Grovyle stayed silent Sam turned away, "Fine, I'm sorry if I've wasted your time."

He began to walk away, "Wait."

Sam turned around. Grovyle was walking towards him. When he got close enough, he stuck his hand out, "Handshake?"

Sam's eyes widened and they almost seemed to sparkle, "You'll help?!"

Grovyle smiled and nodded. Sam wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled too, "Thank you."

He took Grovyle's hand and they shook. Grovyle was still smiling, "We'll change this world. We'll make time something again."

Sam nodded, "And bring light back to this darkness."

"We'll do it together!" they said in unison.

**So, what do you think? Alright? Good? Bad? Anyway, this is how the story, within the story, began. But now, Grovyle and Sam will have more than the time trouble to worry about. A certain Pokémon knows about them and he won't stop hunting them until they're both gone, forever…**


	2. Chapter 2

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Future 

Of Darkness 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way. The game designers are the geniuses.**

**P.S. P.O.V means point of view.**

Chapter 2: The Hunt for Freedom

A Sableye, an old one, at that, ran the library in this world. He could still give you a nasty Fury Swipe so don't mess with him. At this present moment, he was sitting at his desk. Most visitors (although, not that many people visit anyway) don't know this, but he used to only be a worker here, but then the owner mysteriously disappeared.

As he sat, he took a book from his desk and opened it, "Hmm," he said thoughtfully, "The time gears _did_ exist."

"Thanks for the info," said a voice behind him and suddenly a green light appeared and hit him from behind, knocking him out.

Grovyle and Sam stepped out of the darkness, "Good hit," said Sam,

"Thanks."

Sam looked around. The library was huge, "This is gonna be harder than I thought," he turned to Grovyle, "You stay here and watch the librarian, I'll find the map."

Grovyle nodded, "Got it."

Sam set off down the halls of the library, muttering to himself, "I didn't leave here with the map before, I'm not leaving here without it today."

He suddenly heard Grovyle's voice from across the library, "Remind me why we're here again!"

"Because we need to work out where the time gears are, I told twice already!"

"I know, but I don't really know what time gears are!"

Sam sighed, "When we get the map, and out of here, I'll tell you!"

"Uhh! Fine!"

Sam smiled. When Grovyle tried to be cool, he failed. When he didn't do anything, he looked cool.

He scanned the shelves for the one book that could save them all. There! On the second shelf, on the right. The book titled 'Time Gears: A Possibility?'

"I've found it!" he yelled across the library,

"Good! I'm bored of having to repeatedly hit this guy over the head."

"Fine, fine! Just keep him unconscious until I get over there!"

"Got it!"

Moving fast, to avoid wasting time, Sam began to make his move back to Grovyle. He was shivering, not from the cold – cold didn't exist in this world – but from the excitement of finally having the key to brining peace and light to the world.

When he got back to Grovyle, he saw him with a leaf blade out. Grovyle saw him look at it, "Just in case."

The Sableye stirred and began to sit up. Grovyle saw and was about to hit him again, when Sam stopped him, "Let me this time."

Grovyle shrugged and stepped aside. The Sableye groaned. Sam walked forwards and, without warning, spun around and slammed his foot into the Sableye's stomach. The force of the kick was so strong, that the Sableye was sent flying backwards and crashed through one of the windows before falling out of sight.

Grovyle whistled, "Nice kick."

"Thanks (Man that felt good!)"

"We should get out of here, in case old Dusknoir wants to show his face."

Sam nodded, "Right, let's move."

**Grovyle P.O.V**

I'm not sure what Sam wanted to get when we went to the library. I knew it was big, Sam's ideas usually were. When I found out we were after a book containing knowledge of how to fix time, I was a little sceptical. After all, if a book like this existed, then Dusknoir would probably have got rid of it.

When I don't think something's a good idea, Sam just rolls eyes and does it anyway. That was one of the things I liked about him he did things, which he felt was right, no matter how impossible it may have seemed.

Okay, I admit that the book retrieval was easy. We went in, took out the librarian, got the book and scrammed. Sam stilled hadn't explained to me what a time gear was, so I was itching to hear about it, as he'd kept me in the dark for most of the time. I hope he tells me soon because I need to know.

**Normal Story P.O.V**

The two of them ran for a good hour before finally resting at an old rock face. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Sam sat down. Once he'd got his breath back, he spoke, "I think it's about time I explained what time gears are."

Grovyle nodded, "Okay," said Sam, "Time gears are the items that hold time together. But seeing as time doesn't seem to be in good shape, I reckon something's happened to them."

Sam held the book up, "This book has a map that will tell us where the time gears might be."

"_Might_ be?"

"Well, the book is called 'Time Gears: A Possibility?'"

Sam sighed, "I tried to get this book the last time I was at the library, but Dusknoir came and nearly caught me. I was only just able to escape."

"If these time gears are so important, then why did someone mess with them?"

"I didn't say that anyone did."

"Items don't break without help," Grovyle pointed out,

"True," Sam said, "but they also don't need help to break down. Machines can break."

"What's a machine?"

"I don't know, but I read about them in the library."

"Get to the point."

"Right. The time gears have stopped working and this, as the book states, is what has caused time to cease."

"So our job is to fix the time gears?"

"Exactly."

Grovyle didn't seem convinced, "How would we do this?"

Sam held up the book again, "Hopefully, this will tell us."

"You mean you don't know?"

"I only saw the map, I didn't have time to read anything!"

"Fine, fine, just open map and lets find out where we need to go."

Sam nodded, "The good thing is that there are only five time gears in the world and that means this should be quick."

Sam opened the book and took out the map, "Now, let's see where we have to go."

**Alright! That's chapter 2 sorted. I'm hoping that you're enjoying, so far. It's a little boring at the moment, but things should get more exciting in later chapters. See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Future 

Of Darkness 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way. The game designers are the geniuses.**

Chapter 3: The Dimensional Scream

"Whoa," said Grovyle. He looked at Sam, "Just five time gears, huh?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting this."

The map was more complex than they'd thought. There was a small dot almost everywhere on the map.

"I'm going to assume," said Sam, "That the dots are the possible locations of the time gears."  
_"POSSIBLE?!" _yelled Grovyle, "You mean we have to check each individual place to find these things?!"

"No one said that this was going to be easy, Grovyle,"

"Well, where do you think we should start?"

Grovyle began pointing to random dots on the map,

"Shall we try here, here or here?"

Sam pointed to a spot on the map. It was a place without a dot,

"We're here, so I suggest we go to the places that are nearest to us,"

He touched his finger to one of the dots, "Here," he touched another dot, "Here," another dot, "Here," he touched one more dot, "And here are nearest to us."

Sam might have continued, but, quite suddenly, he came over all dizzy. His eyes went blurry and he stumbled. He could vaguely hear Grovyle calling his name, but it was distant and muffled. Then, the dizziness ended and a white beam of light shot across his vision before filling his vision completely.

He wasn't where he was before; he was seeing a forest, in light! This wasn't what the world he lived in. There was light! Darkness was there, but it wasn't absolute, it seemed to be one with light. Suddenly, he was moving, fast as well. The forest's trees flashed by as he jumped and ran through the forest. He took a turn and suddenly, he was faced with a bright blue light.

The light was incredible and there was something in the middle of it; a bright blue gear with a strange carving on it,

"Do my eyes deceive me? Could it be…?"

Sam was startled to find that he had spoken, except that the voice wasn't his; it was Grovyle's!

"Yes it is! I've finally found it! A time gear! But this is only the first of many…"

The image faded and Sam found himself being supported by Grovyle, "Sam! You're awake!"

Sam held his head and groaned, "Ugh, what happened?"

"I don't know, you touched on of the dots on the map and you suddenly started stumbling around like a Psyduck with a headache."

Sam propped himself up on a rock, "I…I saw something. It felt like… like I was seeing it through someone else's eyes, and I heard a voice, your voice."

"My voice?"

"Yeah, I think I was seeing things through your eyes,"

"How,"

"I don't know, but you were in a place where there was light! Light _and _darkness, but they were one with one another."

Grovyle put on his thinking face, "Maybe we could go back to the library and find out what this is all about."

"Let me try something first."

Sam put his finger to the dot again and the dizzy feeling returned. He saw the light beam and it covered his vision again. Sam expected to see the same scene again, but there was nothing; it was just black. This time, he heard a voice; Grovyle's again, "Treeshroud Forest. A time gear has to be here."

The blackness faded back to Grovyle again, "It happened again, didn't it?"

"Sort of, except I didn't see anything; I just heard your voice. You said something about a time gear being in Treeshroud Forest,"

"I've never heard of it,"

"Neither have I, but I bet that we'll find it at the spot that I just touched."

"Maybe you'd like to tell me all about it," said a quiet voice behind them.

Sam and Grovyle spun around, but something crashed into the side of their heads. White light exploded behind their eyes and everything went black…

Sam awoke with a splitting headache. His vision was still fuzzy and he thought he was having another weird dream thing. His vision cleared and he found himself in a completely blank room. He looked around and saw Grovyle on the floor near him. He got up and walked over to him and shook Grovyle, "Grovyle, wake up. Come on!"

Grovyle stirred, "Ugh, what hit us?"

"Don't know. All I know is that we're stuck in this room."

"Great, how do we get out?"

"You don't," said a voice outside the room, "That's the point."

Sam's eyes widened, "That voice…"

"Yes, human, I have you now."

Anger appeared in Grovyle's eyes. Sam and him spoke at the same time, "Dusknoir!"

"Yes, I am your lovely jailer and humble destroyer of your lives."

"That sounds way too over dramatic, don't you think?"

Dusknoir smiled, though Sam and Grovyle couldn't see it, "Oh please, I'd like this to be theatrical for you. After all, I'll be killing you and I want this to be as fun as possible."

They heard him snap his fingers, "Seviper! Get over here and use haze!"

Suddenly, a black smoke was pouring out of a small vent in the wall. It was choking them. Sam and Grovyle were coughing hard. Before they could do anything about it, they were lying unconscious on the floor again.

When they awoke, they were being led somewhere by some Sableye with Dusknoir in the lead. Grovyle was struggling, but he was bound with his hands behind his back. The same thing had been done to Sam.

A Sableye swiped Grovyle and said, "Stop struggling, it'll only be worse for you!"

Grovyle stopped struggling, but only so he could look Sam in the eye.

Sam knew what that look meant, _What do we do? _Sam shrugged, although it was a little difficult with the bindings.

Sam looked at his surroundings. He still didn't feel fully aware of what his feet were doing. He looked at the ground and saw that he was walking up some stairs.

It felt like forever before they finally made it to the top of the stairs. They were on top of some sort of tower. There were no walls except for one at the far end. It had an engraving on it, but Dusknoir was in the way, so Sam couldn't see what it was.

Dusknoir turned around, "Welcome, to the 'Tower of Souls'."

Grovyle and Sam said nothing. Dusknoir was watching them like a hawk and smiled, "Take your hand out of that pouch, human."

Sam froze, his hand in his item pouch, "If you want to think about using an orb, don't," continued Dusknoir, "My Master's presence is here; thus, all orbs cease to work."

Grovyle and Sam were stunned for a moment, "Master?" they said in unison. Dusknoir smiled, "You truly think I hold _all _the power here? No, my Master is the all powerful, the lord of time itself, Lord Dialga."

Grovyle looked confused, but Sam said, "Dialga? The Time Lord? He's your master?!"

Dusknoir smiled, "Does that surprise you? This is one of the places where he is most powerful."

Sam was shocked, "But if Dialga is Lord of Time, then why does he want us to die? We're trying to change Time for the better!"

Dusknoir smiled again, "That's the point,"

"Wait," exclaimed Grovyle, "That's what this is all about?!"

Dusknoir smiled, but this one was especially nasty, "I'm going to really enjoy getting rid of you, Grovyle."

"If to get to him, then you'll have to go through me first."

"Don't make this harder on yourself, human. Believe it or not, we need you."

Sam froze for the second time today (Although the days never actually passed), "Why?"

"Your ability is what we need, to be more precise."

Sam and Grovyle looked at each other and then back at Dusknoir, "Ability?" said Grovyle,

"Yes. The Dimensional Scream ability that lies within you, Sam."

Dusknoir began pacing up and down, "It will show the user, of the ability, a vision. However, it will only work when the user touches something connected to a time gear."

Sam let out a small gasp. Dusknoir looked up, "Yes, I need to know the locations of the time gears so that I may destroy them."

Sam and Grovyle's eyes widened, "But that's ridiculous," said Sam, "Dialga will destroy you for that."

"My Master has ordered that they be destroyed."

Sam couldn't take it all in; Dialga wanted time to be messed up, he had some weird ability that could show him time gear locations and it could only work if he touched something connected to it.

Something suddenly flashed in Dusknoir's eyes as a Sableye spoke to him, "Hmm. It seems you will live after all, Grovyle. Shame."

Grovyle breathed a sigh of relief, but asked, "Why?"

Dusknoir had stopped pacing, "Because your friend's ability can not work without a trusted partner and I'd say that is you."

Dusknoir turned away from them and began to address the Sableye. So that no one could hear him, or see his lips move, Grovyle muttered to Sam, with his head down, "I'm fine with being alive, Sam, but I'd assume that, when we've served our purpose, Dusknoir will kill us. So I hope you have a plan."

"Don't worry, I do, I just need to get into my pouch."

While Sam did this, Grovyle thought about how it all came to this point in the first place.

**Ok, I'll end it here. I'm going to have a special chapter next which is all about Grovyle's past. If you want to skip this and move onto the next part of the Future of Darkness, then I'll upload 2 parts at once; the Grovyle's past bit, and the TRUE next part.**

**I also want to use this to tell you about my YouTube channel. It's wongaish, if you want to see any of my videos. Be warned though; THEY'RE RANDOM! (and the most recent ones are jittery, sorry).**

**Stay cool for the next part, and I hope you'll read the next parts.**

**WONGAISH, OUT!**


	4. Chapter 3x

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Future 

Of Darkness 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way. The game designers are the geniuses.**

**This is just a bonus chapter; so if you want to skip around it, feel free, as I've uploaded the next part at the same time as this.**

**P.S. This whole chapter is from Grovyle's P.O.V**

Chapter 3x: Grovyle's Past

Where to start? I guess I _should _start from the point of where I hatched from my little Pokémon egg, but that's dull, really dull. I guess the _best _place to start, would be from where I got ambushed by the Sableye, the place where I ended up in this mess.

I was still a Treecko at the time. I had more friends too. I was friends with other Treecko that hadn't turned bitter from the darkness. I had another friend too; she was a very pretty Celebi. Did I just say that? Oh man, she'll kill me for saying that (Wait, you think that's sweet? Thanks Celebi…).

We were happy; we had a whole forest to play in. Everything was perfect, until Dusknoir came. He didn't come alone; he brought Sableye, Vulpix and Arcanine. The Sableye were first. I caught glimpses of them while I played. They were just scouts. Dusknoir arrived afterwards. He told us that his master had alerted him of a Treecko in this forest that would try and alter time.

At the time, I didn't know that I would have the adventure that I did. If I knew, then I could have saved the Treecko. Dusknoir set his fire-types on us. They burned our forest to the ground and killed the other Treecko. Only Celebi and I escaped. The Treecko were burned to death before they could even move.

I cried for days afterwards and Celebi was my only comfort. I'm not saying that it was a bad comfort, just, it was only the one. I guess that that incident was what hardened my heart. I was set on revenge. Celebi could calm me down, but I had to still take my anger out on the trees around us.

I think that my anger was what caused me to evolve. I was a Treecko one evening and the next morning, I was a Grovyle. Celebi was pretty surprised to find that I had changed. I was actually testing out my new moves when she announced that she was leaving.

"I have to," she said, "I know the location of Dusknoir's base and it's very near one of my Passages of Time. I can't take the risk of him going back in time. He could cause immense amounts of havoc."

"But why can't I come with you?"

Celebi smiled, but there was only sadness in it, "Grovyle, you can't float, or teleport to where we need to get to. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here."

Naturally I was a little ticked off by this. I was a newly evolved Grovyle and the single friend, that I still had, was leaving me. If it was possible, I was even bitterer now than before. I left that forest, which we were hiding in, shortly after Celebi left. I made a territory in a small area north of the forest that burned.

Territory! I was becoming an animal! Despite my hatred for Dusknoir, and myself, I still was able to fend off any Pokémon that came by. Many were like the Infernape that actually thought that they could take me down. Monferno, Growlithe, you name it. Always fire-types. I beat them down especially hard. I had nothing against those specific Pokémon, but I did have a great resentment towards all fire-types due to what happened in my forest.

The more that I attacked, the more I improved. I was becoming something as well; I'd always had an inborn nature, but I'd been able to keep it at bay. That was around my friends. Now that they'd all gone, I was becoming more savage. I realised that the darkness was finally having an effect on me.

I might have continued on into savagery, if Dusknoir hadn't shown his ugly face near me again.

Dusknoir came to me. He was once again saying that there was a Pokémon that would alter. Except this time, he knew that it was me. He, naturally, didn't give me a fair fight. He got his Sableye to attack me. I almost felt sorry for them; they didn't stand a chance. My anger and savagery drove me to victory. Leaf Blade after Leaf Blade struck them down.

Dusknoir was only a minor challenge. He tried to grab me, but I slammed him in his stomach/mouth. I managed to wind him, but that didn't stop him from smashing a Shadow Ball into my face. I'll admit: that hurt. In retaliation, I smashed him to the ground with an Energy Ball. He looked up at me; pain was in his eye, "Who are you?"

I looked down at him; hatred in _my _eyes, "Just a Grovyle, nothing else. I don't know who you think I am, but you're wrong." With that, I knocked him out with a Leaf Blade and fled.

I hid out in a cave for several sort-of-days. I only went back to my territory when I saw Dusknoir limping off into the distance. I was happy that I had exacted my revenge. I would have liked to have killed him, but something stopped me. To this day, I don't know what that was.

After that, I began to go back down the road of savagery. Celebi would have been shocked at how I'd changed. Once again, I was saved from this route. This time, by Sam.

As I'm sure you know, Sam came to get me after he heard about my encounter with Dusknoir. He mentioned acts of bravery (Not sure who he heard that from), which I assume was referring to the fact that I'd taken on many fire-types at once. Word sure travels fast for a place where time is nothing.

Anyway, Sam came to see me. He watched my battle with the Infernape. Luckily, he intervened at the last moment; otherwise I could just be a pile of ash on the floor. He talked to me about what he was doing. Of course I was sceptical; how was a human going to fix time on his own?

Then he asked me to help. I saw a chance for a friend, something I hadn't had for a very long time. I think that I realised, at this point, that Celebi hadn't betrayed me. She'd left for the greater good of time. This was what Sam was doing.

I reasoned that I could see Celebi again if I went with this human. Celebi was more than just my friend, she'd almost become like a big sister to me. I couldn't understand it at the time, but Celebi was going to play a large part in the restoration of time.

I just wish that we could have all been there to see it happen, I wanted to see Sam again…

**Ok, that's this one sorted. If it seems a little rushed at the end, then that's because I wanted to move onto the next chapter. Please comment and favourite, but don't forget to do both! Just kidding, do whatever the hell you want!**

**Wongaish, OUT!**


	5. Chapter 4

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: The Future 

Of Darkness 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way. The game designers are the geniuses.**

Chapter 4: Best Escapes Ever!

Sam finished delving into his pouch and pulled something out. Grovyle tried to see what it was, but Sam was concealing it in his fist. Suddenly, he threw it out towards Dusknoir. It was a luminous orb. It hit the ground; and shattered into thousands of pieces.

Dusknoir turned around at the noise. He smiled, "I believe that I already told you that 'orbs don't work'!"

Sam just looked at him, "Damn."

Dusknoir turned around and began addressing the Sableye again. Grovyle muttered, "I hope you have a better plan, Sam,"

"I do; step back until you reach the edge of the tower."

Not quite sure why, Grovyle did as he was told. He nearly lost his balance as his foot nearly entered empty space,

"Now, fall back," said Sam,

"What? This isn't war, I can't go back any further," said Grovyle,

"No, fall back_wards_,"

"What?"

"Oh for crying out-!"

Sam moved in front of Grovyle, and suddenly barged him off the top of the tower. Grovyle's initial thought was_ OK; this human's going to kill me! Not the way I thought I'd go out. _Sam, on the other hand, was thinking _Come on, get here! _Nothing was happening, so Sam closed his eyes and waited for the end.

It probably would have, if a large blue streak hadn't shot across to save them. Grovyle was facing up and was thinking _Okay, I'm alive, but, how?_

He twisted round to see what he'd landed on. A blue head also turned and grinned at him. Grovyle gasped; it was a Latios. The Latios spoke to them, "Anywhere you think I should land?"

Sam replied, "Just keep flying until you lose sight of that tower."

"Got it."

"Uh," said Grovyle, "Do you think you could explain what's going on?"

"I'll explain what's going on when we land."

Back at the tower, Dusknoir stared at the quickly disappearing blue speck in the distance and let out a horrified howl of anger. His fist slammed into the tower floor. The Sableye jumped back; they were all afraid of Dusknoir's anger. Dusknoir muttered to himself, "There will be another day, boy. You will not escape THAT day."

It was many, many miles before the Latios landed in a forest. Sam rolled to get off him and landed in the dirt. Grovyle tried, but couldn't manage, "Think you could help?"

The Latios shook himself and Grovyle heavily hit the floor, "You're welcome."

Sam rolled onto his front, "Can you get these bindings off?"

The Latios moved forwards and slashed the ropes off. Then he did the same for Grovyle. He turned and faced Sam, "Whenever you need me, Sam."

Sam smiled, "Watch out for yourself, Latios. Don't let Dusknoir catch you."

Latios smiled, "What's he gonna do? Fly at the speed of sound?"

Sam smiled too, "Take care, Latios,"

"You too."

The Latios tucked in his arms and sped off. Grovyle picked himself up, "You didn't tell me you were friends with a Latios,"

"I didn't think that I'd need to."

"You said you had no true friends?"

"I know. Latios hasn't come back for – well, he hasn't come back since he left 10 years ago."

"How did you know that he'd come back and save you at that exact point in time?"

Sam smiled, "I didn't; Latios promised to travel at the speed of light to help whenever an orb fails to work."  
"Oh that's why you wasted that orb."

Sam nodded, "I was friends with Latios before I knew anything about the place I lived in."

Grovyle nodded, "I guess that I can see that."

He looked around, "Now where did Latios drop us?"

"No idea, but at least we're away from Dusknoir. We should probably check the map. Have you got it?"

Grovyle's eyes widened, "I thought _you_ had it!"

They looked at each other, "DUSKNOIR!" they yelled in unison, "and He must have taken the map when he knocked us out.

"Then we have to get it back, we can't complete the task without it," said Grovyle.

Grovyle shut his eyes. When he opened them, he saw that Sam was crying, "Sam? What's wrong?"

"It's hopeless! We had just one chance to get the task done and we blew it! We must be half way across the world now! Dusknoir is thousands of miles away now in a tower that is orb resistant!"

Grovyle had never seen Sam in such a state before or since, "Sam, it's Okay, we can find another map-"

"That was the only one in existence!"

Grovyle looked down. When he looked up again, he punched Sam in the face. The punch wasn't very hard, but it shocked Sam so much that he fell over,

"Listen, Sam, I've given my life to this task and I'm going to f(censored)g complete it, with or without you."

Sam was staring at him, but the tears were slowly disappearing. He looked at the floor, then smiled, "You're right," he said, "I shouldn't be so childish."

Sam got up and stuck his hand out, "Thanks for knocking some sense into me, Grovyle. I'll get this done, with you by my side."

Grovyle smiled, "Good to see that I'm doing my job right."

They shook, "Now," said Grovyle, "To work out where Dusknoir shoved off to."

Sam stroked his chin, "I think I have an idea."

As the tower came into view, a dark fog rose over the horizon, if it can be called that here. All the Pokémon that lived near it feared the tower. Dusk Fog Tower. A place of darkness and, strangely enough, Dusknoir's hideout.

Grovyle and Sam his in the thick reeds that dotted the landscape. The tower was near an ocean which was worth going to see, even though it was the last thing any Pokémon ever saw, not that Sam and Grovyle knew that. There was a monstrous…'Thing', living in the ocean, its mind clearly twisted by the darkness and it's only incentive is to kill anything that gets too close.

Sam turned to Grovyle, "I was taken here when I was first grabbed by Dusknoir."

"Yeah, you never told me how you two first met."

"It really doesn't matter."

Sam pointed to the tower, there's only one way out and that's through the window over there."

"I have a feeling that there's some bad news."

"You're right; the window is in Dusknoir's office,"

"Oh."

Sam took out an orb, "We can only get the map with the use of a luminous orb, so we need to check whether orbs work at all."

"But that's a one-shot orb."

"I know, this is for those Sableye over there," Sam pointed at the two guards.

"Grovyle, throw it."

Sam gave the orb to Grovyle who took careful aim, before suddenly lobbing it at the Sableye. The orb hit the ground and smashed, sending out a wave of energy that knocked the Sableye out instantly.

"Stay here," said Sam, "I know the way, you cover me. We know the orbs work now."

He handed Grovyle five different orbs that each did their own thing.

Grovyle smiled and gave him the thumbs up. Sam set off and entered the tower.

It was much larger than he remembered, but, then again, it had been 5 years since he was last there. Luckily, he remembered the route to Dusknoir's 'office' room.

Dusknoir was sitting – erm, floating – at his desk with the time gear map in front of him, "Hmm, I know the names of a mere 3 of these, 'The Eastern Forest', 'Crystal Cave' and "The Northern Desert'.'

He suddenly slammed his fist onto the desk, "Damn! How could I have allowed the human to escape!?"

"Simple," said a voice from the door. Dusknoir turned, but a bright light was suddenly in his face. He couldn't see anything. When the light cleared, the map was gone.

Sam had grabbed it while Dusknoir was disoriented. Too easy. The window was easily smash-able as well. Jumping off a building twice in one day, that must be a record.

Sam thought _I'll be safe now, the sea will break my fall. There's nothing there that can get me. _Sam couldn't have been more wrong.

**Okay, I think I'll end this chapter here. Dramatic, right?**

**…**

**…**

**…**

**I hate this…**


End file.
